Pressurized air assisted spray nozzle assemblies are known for spraying cooling liquids in continuous metal casting systems, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,127 assigned to the same assignee as the present application. Such spraying systems typically preatomize liquid and direct the liquid particles into a flat spray pattern. A plurality of such spray nozzles are aligned along the path of the movement of the continuous cast slab.
In the continuous casting of billets, which are substantially square in cross section, it can be desirable to direct a round spray pattern for more complete and effective coverage. Heretofore, however, it has been difficult to reliably generate a full cone preatomized liquid spray discharge with a uniform liquid particle distribution. Such spray nozzles commonly require a whirl imparting vane which is relatively small in size, can be difficult and expensive to manufacture, and can be subject to clogging.